HOWEVER, my PSU makes noise now where previously it was inaudible. As soon as Windows was installed and updated I ran the WEI test and the PSU started squealing like crazy! It also clicks pretty much all the time, sort of like the "seek" sound a mechanical HDD makes.

I read this in the G360 thread...

Seasonic Rep wrote:

In the BIOS, the function of Audio Always On must be DISABLED as this does not conform to ErP standards.As well, in the BIOS, all energy savings modes such as ErP/EuP, StandBy Energy Savings, S4/S5, must all be ENABLED.

... Thinking that it might apply to me as well. My motherboard's bios doesn't appear to have those options, or they're called something else, or hidden - I can't find them.

So I'm looking for advice on how I can quiet this PSU. I am not sure how to translate the suggestions above into the options available in my motherboard's BIOS. Based on other posts, it seems like the issue is related to the 5V rail - what's all on that rail? I can just trial & error disable 5V stuff.

I do not have spare PSUs to test with. I could pull an Antec EA380 from my HTPC, but it would be a pain because of elaborate cable routing. I'm not opposed to a new PSU, but my case (Antec NSK3480) limits me to 140mm deep PSUs if I want to keep an optical drive. The SeaSonic SSP power supplies are supposedly the non-modular "OEM" version of the Seasonic G-series. They're short because they omit modular connectors. The SSP-450RT is 140mm deep. Few reviews on these, but the G-series is well-liked and affordable.

In the BIOS, the function of Audio Always On must be DISABLED as this does not conform to ErP standards.As well, in the BIOS, all energy savings modes such as ErP/EuP, StandBy Energy Savings, S4/S5, must all be ENABLED.

... Thinking that it might apply to me as well. My motherboard's bios doesn't appear to have those options, or they're called something else, or hidden - I can't find them.

It's not neccessarily the same problem. The Corsair CX series is not a Seasonic made unit (IIRC) so this trick doesn't necessarily apply.

Having said that if it does happen to be the same issue...

Jay_S wrote:

Based on other posts, it seems like the issue is related to the 5V rail - what's all on that rail? I can just trial & error disable 5V stuff.

It's not the 5V rail but the +5VSB. This is very different. This rail powers things when on standby and it's worth disabling if you don't use these features anyway. Typically things like wake-on features may be using +5VSB. Sometimes you will find a jumper, sometimes you will find it in the BIOS but some motherboards have an option for setting whether +5V or +5VSB is used for peripherals and you want to change it to +5V if you want to try and avoid +5VSB.

It could still be another issue but I really would not suggest a new PSU as that is a bit of a waste.

The PSU starts squealing immediately in WEI test, at the first DirectX test. Furmark is OpenGL, so ... could that be something? 3DMark is DirectX bench. I DL'd that and, sure enough, my PSU starts buzzing like crazy. How strange.

I recently got back into Skyrim (DirectX 9); the PSU noise is moderate - nothing like the WEI squeal, but it's still there. I play mainly with headphones on, so it's not a big issue in practice. Still, I'm concerned about component failure and I'd rather it not make noise than have to "silence" it via headphones.

I'm not familiar with what WEI is but I can guess that it's something graphical and this may be part of the issue. It is not uncommon for some 3D intensive programs to make the GPU and/or PSU squeal so the motherboard tricks won't be relevant to this. Why it is that a motherboard change causes the GPU/PSU interface to give noise is odd. Maybe beforehand this program was CPU limited so the GPU was not running full load then with the upgraded CPU the GPU is now the bottleneck? This is the best explanation I have.

There's no problem here with components failing, it's quite normal. When I had a Modu82+ connected to a 9600GT there was a squeal from the graphics card. Now I have an X400 and the graphics card no longer squeals, these things are about a combination of factors.

I'm not familiar with what WEI is but I can guess that it's something graphical and this may be part of the issue.

Windows Experience Index - it's the built-in "benchmarking" tool that first shipped with Vista. WEI starts with a variety of DirectX tests. My PSU is noisy throughout those tests.

edh wrote:

It is not uncommon for some 3D intensive programs to make the GPU and/or PSU squeal so the motherboard tricks won't be relevant to this. Why it is that a motherboard change causes the GPU/PSU interface to give noise is odd. Maybe beforehand this program was CPU limited so the GPU was not running full load then with the upgraded CPU the GPU is now the bottleneck?

This is my suspicion as well. I know that my old CPU was holding my GPU back.

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